IT does not matter how a team wins a replay
of a second round tie in the Scottish Amateur Cup and
Musselburgh United were more than relieved to beat Dunblane
Thistle 1-0 at Fisherrow in what can only be described as an
'ugly' game of football.
After fighting back from being 2-1 down in
the first game in Stirlingshire, United scored a late equaliser
to force a replay. This hard-earned win against Dunblane
clinched their place in the third round against Caledonian
League high-fliers, Dalziel HSFP, with the only goal of the game
coming two minutes in to the second half - and what a
magnificent goal it was, too.
Referee Stewart Lawrie blew for a free-kick too quickly it
seemed as the ball crashed into the Dunblane net off a defender
in a United attack, but the goal was disallowed by the match
official as he had already awarded a free-kick. But the goal was
only delayed as Dave Barry smashed an absolute screamer of a
shot high in to the Dunblane net giving goalkeeper, Chris
Fotheringham, transfixed on his goal-line.
That goal proved to be the only one of the
game and, in all truth, there was not much more to shout about
in this game.
Neither side could be blamed for lack of
effort, but what this game really needed was for someone to show
some composure and calm the game down. The speed with which the
ball was thumped about the pitch was frightening, but both sets
of players looked to be terrified of being punished for
mistakes. Musselburgh's No 7, Ian McLeod, did try to play
passes, but as the game progressed, the tackling became tougher
and tougher, with Dunblane guilty of letting their concentration
slip when they felt hard done to by some of the referee's
decisions.
The tackling got more and more desperate, and
comments started to fly at the referee. So much so, that after a
visiting player went down in pain after losing a 50-50 challenge
with Scott McDonald, the Dunblane skipper, Peter Marshall, was
sent off for sounding off to Mr Lawrie!
That was a crushing blow to the visitors, but
there were signs in the second half that they were losing their
cool and how they were punished for that. Any hope they had of
saving the tie disappeared with their captain heading for the
dressingrooms.
United duly held on despite an all-out effort
by Dunblane to snatch a late equaliser, but the home side were
too strong in defence and they coped very well with a late push
from the visiting side.
Musselburgh United secretary, Jim Cormack,
said: "It was not the best of games but it is a good win for us.
We play Dalziel in the next round but I am not worried about
that. We have a good young side that likes to play football!"
*The match official at this game has enjoyed
a remarkable career as a referee, and he has now taken charge of
more that 1000 games in a career that has spanned more than 21
years. And he has kept a record of all the games he has taken
charge of!
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